Sampling valve assembly



w. K. MARBLE 2,955,469

SAMPLING VALVE ASSEMBLY Oct. 11, 1960 Filed March 11, 1957 a sheets-sheet 1 v 7 W/l an Aw Man:

13 /z/mw ATTORNEYS Oct. 11, 1960 w- MARBLE 2,955,469

' SAMPLING VALVE ASSEMBLY Filed March 11, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q a v;

CHE;

L INVENTOR- 6455/? Awox Mmaz! ATT u R N EY s Oct. 11, 1960 w. K. MARBLE SAMPLING VALVE ASSEMBLY 5 Sheets-She et :5

Filed March 11. 1957 I N VEN TOR.

av myzzw a ATTEI RN EYS 2,955,469 I SAMPLING VALVE ASSEMBLY Wilbur Knox Marble, Leland, Miss., assignor, by mesue assignments, to Lab-Quip Engineering Corp., Shreveport, La. 7

Filed Mar. 11, 1957, Ser. No. 645,213 1 Claim. (Cl. 73-422) 1 This invention relates to sampling devices such as used in commercial or industrial plants where it is desired to remove samples of a product at intervals while machinery or the plant continues in operation, and in particular a sample removing device including a valve positioned in an opening in the wall of a circular lint flue with a valve element actuated by a pneumatic cylinder in combination with a spring, wherein the valve element is temporarily retained in a slightly open position to permit material reinaining on an edge thereof to be drawn into the flue, and wherein material removed by suction with the valve open is carried through a conveying tube to a sample press.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a sample removing valve particularly adapted for cotton gins wherein the valve is positioned over an opening in a wall of a circular lint flue.

Various attempts have been made to sample cotton, wool, and other similar products while machinery and equipment and particularly cotton gins are inoperation, however, it has been found diflicult to remove samples of such material without interrupting the operation of the z equipment, and it has been found particularly difficult to remove material for such samples from circular gin flues.

- With this thought in mind this invention contemplates an arcuate valve element carried by a shaft rotatably mounted in bearings at the sides of an opening in a circular flue with the valve opened by a pneumatic cyl inder and actuated to the closed position by a spring and in which the valve is temporarily retained in a partly closed position to permit cotton remaining on the edge of the valve being withdrawn therefrom.

The object of this invention is, therefore, to provide means for forming and actuating a sampling valve so that it may be installed on and used in combination with a circular lint flue and particularly a flue of a cotton gin.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sampling valve adapted to be used on a circular lint flue particularly of a cotton gin in which the device is adapted to be installed by the average mechanic.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a sampling valve for removing material from a round lint rflue in which the device is adapted to be installed on flues of different types of machines and without disconnecting the flue.

A further object of the invention is to provide a delaying action in a valve for removing material from a round lint flue to permit materials to be removed from the leading edge of the valve member.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved valve assembly for withdrawing samples from a circular lint flue in which the valve assembly is of a simple and economical construction.

With these and other objects and advantages in view the invention embodies a pair of bearing plates extended inwardly from opposite edges of an opening in the wall of a flue with a valve member carried by a shaft rotatably r ce 2 I mounted in said bearing plates, with a pneumatic cylinder for opening the valve and a spring for closing the valve and in which a small pneumatic cylinder is provided for producing a delaying action to allow material to be re moved from the leading edge of the valve.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connec tion with the drawings wherein:

Figure l is an elevational view showing theassembly of the valve on a cylindrical flue with a conveyer tube by which the lint is carried to a condenser and from which it is deposited into a press extended from the valve to the condenser.

Figure 2 is an elevational view showing the valve as-' sembly on a cylindrical flue with upper and lower parts of the flue broken away.

Figure 3 is a cross section through the valve assembly taken on line 33 of Figure 1 showing the valve in the open position and with parts of the flue broken away.

Figure 4 is a side elevational view showing a portion of the flue with the valve assembly mounted thereon and also showing the parts with the valve in the open position. Figure 5 is a sectional plan through the valve assembly, showing a portion of a cylindrical flue on which the valve assembly is mounted and showing the parts with the valve in a closed position.

Referring now to the drawing wherein like reference characters denote corresponding parts, the improved sampling valve assembly of this invention includes a valve element 10, a shaft 11 on which the valve element 10 is mounted, said valve element being positioned to provide a closure for an opening 12 in the wall of a lint flue 13, a lever 14 fixedly mounted on one end of the shaft, a pin 16 for pivotally connecting one end 15 of the lever to a clevis 17, a piston rod 18, a cylinder 19 from which the piston rod extends, a rod 20 extended from a small control'cylinder 21, the cylinder 21 having a'bleeder valve opening 22 therein for retarding the closing movement of the valve, and a spring 23 connected to the end of the lever opposite to the end connected to the clevis of the piston rod of the cylinder for actuating the valve to the closed position. 1i g The opening 12 provides communication means"be tween the interior of the flue 13 and a conveying chute 24 which, as shown in Figure 1, extends to a condenser 25, being connected to the condenser through a hopper 26 and a boot 27. The opposite end of the conveyer or chute 24 is provided with a similar boot 28 by which the tube 24 is connected to a hopper 29 fitted in the opening 12.

The hopper 29 is provided with a booster connection 30 whereby with the valve closed auxiliary air under pressure is supplied from a compressor 01 blower through a connection 31. The opening 12 is positioned between a pair of plates or baffles 32 and 33 which, with the valve in the closed position, are the only portions of the assembly that extend into the flue 13.

The shaft 1 1 is rotatably mounted in bearings 34 and 35 mounted on outer surfaces of the plates 32 and 33 by bolts, or other fasteners 36 and the valve 10, which is provided with an arcuate outer wall 37 is mounted on the shaft, such as by welding, as shown in Figure 3. The lever 14 is fixedly mounted on the end of the shaft by a key or other suitable fastening means and the end 15 of the lever is connected by the pin 16 to the clevis 17 as shown in Figure 4.

A connecting rod 18 extends from the clevis 17 through an end 39 of the cylinder 19 and is connected to a piston 40 positioned in the cylinder. .The lower end of the cylinder is provided with a tang 41 through which a pin 42 extends for pivotally mounting the cylinder on plates 43, positioned on the outer surface of the flue. The lower end of the cylinder is provided with a bleeder connection 44 and a fluid pressure supply connection 45 extends from the upper end.

, The upper cylinder 21 is securedby a mounting plate on the outer surface of the hopper 29 and a connecting rod 20 is connected to a piston 47 in the cylinder whereby with the end 15 of the lever in engagement witl the end of the rod 20, air trapped in the cylinder retards the closingmovement of the valve, which is closed by the spring 23, so that the valve closes with a delayed action providing sufficient time for lint on the extended edge of the valve element being removed by air passing through the flue, the movement of the valve being controlled by the bleeder opening 22.

The valve is installed in a section 48 of a lint flue between angle iron rings 49 and 50 and the bearing plates 32 and 33 are secured by rivets, or other fasteners 51 to outwardly extended flanges 52 at the sides of the opening 12.

With the parts assembled as illustrated and described and with the valve 10, hopper 29 and bearing plates 32 and 33 installed on a circular flue 13, the actuating cylinder 19 which is controlled from an instrument panel is set to open the connection 45 to air under pressure when a sample is desired and as pressure is applied to the upper end of the cylinder, the piston is driven downwardly moving the valve 10 from the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 3 to the position shown in full lines whereby lint passing through the flue 13 is drawn into thehopper 29 and conveyer 24, passing into the condenser 25 and being deposited into a press as indicated by the numeral 53.

The controls are set so that upon a removal of a sufficient quantity of lint to constitute a segment of a sample air pressure through the cylinder 19 is cut off whereby the spring 23 starts the closing movement of the valve with the cylinder 21 retarding or checking this closing movement in the final stages permitting air pressure through the flue 13 to remove lint from the edge of the valve element. As the valve closes, auxiliary air for conveying the lint through the tube or conveyer 24 is supplied through the connections 30 and 31 whereby all lint is carried to the condenser and deposited into the box of the press.

This cycle of operation may be repeated at regular intervals or a desired.-

It will be understood that modifications, within the scope of the appended claim may be made in the design and arrangement of the parts without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

In a sampling valve assembly for a circular lint flue, the combination which comprises a lint flue having an opening in a side thereof, a lint conveying chute extended from the opening in the lint flue, a connection extended from the lint conveying chute for supplying auxiliary air under pressure thereto, a shaft rotatably mounted on thte lint flue, a hollow valve element carried by the shaft and extended into the lint flue, the shaft being positioned whereby the valve element closes the opening in the side of the lint flue, a lever carried by the shaft, a fluid pressure cylinder mounted on the lint flue and having a piston rod extended therefrom, the end of the piston rod being pivotally connected to an end of the lever, the parts being positioned whereby the lever actuates the valve element to an open position upon the application of fluid under pressure to the cylinder, a spring connected to the end of the lever opposite to the end to which the piston rod is connected for urging the valve element to a closed position upon withdrawal of the fluid under pressure to the cylinder, a retarding cylinder mounted in alignment with the fluid pressure cylinder and having a restricted opening therein, and a rod extended from the piston rod into the retarding cylinder whereby upon the valve element reaching a predetermined position in the closing movement pressure builds up in the retarding cylinder checking the. closing movement of the valve element, whereby lint is drawn from the edge of the valve element before the valve closes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Bosserdct May 14, 1929 Wolf Mar. 16, 1937 OTHER REFERENCES 

